UNews - Tokyo

Research project examines happiness and well-being in intentional communities

caroline.zentner — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 20:25:40 +0000

As scholarly research and policy initiatives have more recently focused on happiness, Dr. Catherine Kingfisher, an anthropologist at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, couldn’t help but think about well-being at a community level.

“A lot of the literature in happiness studies, which is a fairly new area of scholarship, is focused overwhelmingly on the individual,” says Kingfisher. “From an anthropological perspective, too much emphasis on the individual is a problem because EuroAmerican forms of individualism are not culturally universal. So, I started asking myself what other approaches are out there that might allow us to broaden our perspective.”

After exploring several possibilities, Kingfisher settled on intentional communities, specifically urban collective housing communities, which are gaining in popularity yet remain understudied. Like other intentional communities, urban collective housing communities locate happiness and well-being, at least in part, in particular forms of social organization. But they are unique in two ways.

“The first is that they’re urban,” says Kingfisher. “Unlike other forms of intentional community, like ecovillages and spiritual communes, they are integrated with the wider society rather than segregated from it. At the same time, they are critical of mainstream society and try to create something that can respond to the kinds of loneliness, fragmentation and isolation they see as characteristic of society today.”

The second feature of these communities is that they are neither exclusively collectivist nor exclusively individualist. Residents have their own apartments, complete with a kitchen and bathroom, but the housing community also has common kitchen, eating and meeting areas, shared gardens, laundry rooms and play areas for children.

“What is unique about these places, and what has real policy implications, is that they’re hybrids,” says Kingfisher. “There’s a balance — a constant negotiation, really — between what is considered personal and private and what is considered public and collective. In these communities, happiness and well-being are constructed as simultaneously social and subjective, not one or the other.”

Kingfisher, who was awarded more than $111,000 over four years from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, has chosen two communities: Kankanmori in Tokyo and Quayside Village in Vancouver. The study will focus on how the relationship between interdependence and independence is negotiated, and on how the idea of balance is mobilized in everyday practice. It will also compare how the model of urban collective housing plays out in a society that has historically emphasized individualism, like Canada, and one that has historically emphasized collectivity, like Japan. This comparative analysis will provide insight into how ideas morph as they travel across cultural space and how they are translated and assembled in specific contexts of practice.

“They have the exact same model — they want to create a community where people can have their own space but also have community — but this plays out in very different ways, given the cultural context,” she says.

On her preliminary visits to the collective housing communities, Kingfisher found distinct differences in the way things are done. In Japan, a strict line divides personal from common space while the line is fluid in Vancouver. The two communities handle conflict in different ways, too. In Quayside Village, people are encouraged to express their feelings when conflicts arise while Japanese culture values controlling one’s emotions.

The project is designed to be collaborative in nature. One unique methodological feature involves bringing two members of each community to visit the other.

“This will allow community members to learn about other approaches and reflect on their own ideas and approaches,” says Kingfisher.

An additional aspect of Kingfisher’s study will have residents documenting life in their community through video recordings. Kingfisher will supply the equipment and Don Gill, a U of L Fine Arts professor and project collaborator, will act as an artistic consultant and visit both sites to facilitate the production of film shorts. Each community will also choose two residents to participate in a 10-day exchange to the other community in the study. They’ll be looking at how each community handles conflict and how they negotiate the boundary between the personal and the social. The eventual outcome will be a non-academic book in Japanese and English, along with film shorts.

“It’s fascinating and one of the reasons I want to bring people from each site to the other is so they get a sense of how things are done,” she says. “It gets them to reflect on how they are operating themselves and they get new ideas or they get their own ways of doing reinforced or validated.”

Study tour gives students direct cultural experience

caroline.zentner — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 18:21:03 +0000

Participating in a course like the Study Tour of Japan gives students an education that goes beyond learning in a university classroom and the typical tourist experience. Students gain firsthand knowledge of life in Japan from those who live there.

“The purpose of the trip is to provide students with an initial exposure to Japanese culture and society,” says Dr. Catherine Kingfisher, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge anthropology professor, who, along with Diane Minamide, co-ordinator of International Programs and Exchanges, took 14 students to Japan for almost four weeks of intense learning this past summer. “For me as an anthropologist, I couldn’t think of a better way to teach a course than on site.”

Before they left, the students received training in Japanese language and did preliminary research on Japanese culture and society. The U of L has a longstanding exchange agreement for both students and faculty with Hokkai-Gakuen ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Sapporo. Every two years, the U of L sends a group of students for a summer cultural program. Students stay with Japanese host families during their time at Hokkai-Gakuen.

Dr. Catherine Kingfisher, front row left, and Diane Minamide, front row right, posed with students from the U of L and Hokkai-Gakuen ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in the tea ceremony room at HGU.

Myles Shirakawa, a third-year U of L student studying French, went on the study tour because of his interest in the culture and language and his familial roots in Japan. His great grandparents left Japan for Canada in the early 1900s. As a southern Albertan used to wide, open spaces, Tokyo’s dense population came as a shock.

“For example, when you take the subways or trains, especially during rush hour, you have to get used to a different dynamic,” he says. “This dynamic also reflects in the culture and the language where you have to be more cognizant of the relation between yourself and others.”

Dana Grinde, a third-year U of L student majoring in anthropology and psychology, took the course as a way to gain international experience without the time commitment of a whole semester abroad.

“The highlight of my trip was getting to know a group of U of L students in a different context. Travelling with the group was the best part for sure,” says Grinde. “We worked together really well and it was just a lot of fun travelling with them.”

The group spent its first four nights in Tokyo. They visited a number of sites, including an urban collective housing community where Kingfisher is conducting research.

“I’m interested in looking at models of well-being that aren’t based on individualism and personal satisfaction,” says Kingfisher. “Diane (Minamide) was absolutely essential to this trip. Her Japanese is very good and she could translate and interpret when it was necessary. She was pivotal, and the students just loved her.”

After Tokyo, the students made their way to Sapporo where they lived with host families and attended classes at Hokkai-Gakuen ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for two-and-a-half weeks. Shirakawa says everyone was kind and went out of their way to make him feel welcome.

“I had read and studied about Japan but I had never been before so it was interesting to see how they live firsthand,” he says.

“I had all these pictures in my head about what Japan would be like. Then you go there and you realize it’s not at all what you picture,” says Grinde.

After leaving Sapporo, the group visited Kyoto before returning home to Canada. One of the students’ favourite activities was going to an onsen, or hot springs. Each gender has its own pools and people must bathe thoroughly before entering the pools.

“It’s a different kind of experience. You have to go in nude and, sure, it can feel a little awkward at times but at the same time it’s rather quite soothing,” says Shirakawa.

“There’s a Japanese word for naked relationship. That was new for all of us,” says Grinde. “The idea is that when you’re in the onsen with other people, you’re all equals.”

“The whole experience was amazing,” says Shirakawa. “If any other students are considering taking part in the Japan study tour, do try and fit it in. It is a bit of an expense but it’s wonderful to go and experience the culture.”

The students received help with funding from the Campus Alberta Grant for International Learning (CAGFIL).

“They were the most dedicated, fabulous bunch of students I’ve ever worked with. They participated in everything; nobody ever missed a class or event,” says Kingfisher. “They worked really hard and had to give speeches in Japanese at different events. Every single one of these students came up to me at some point and said ‘my host family is the best host family.’”

A number of the students have maintained their interest in Japan and plan to return to teach English or for further study.

Library looks to engage with students

trevor.kenney — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:15:34 +0000

PechaKucha was introduced to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge campus recently as the U of L Library's Student Engagement Team (SET) hosted a PechaKucha event as part of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's International Week.

Seven presenters, including faculty, staff and one international student, spoke on internationally-themed topics ranging from a winter road trip to Alaska to anthropological field work in Indonesia.

The Student Engagement Team was formed in the fall of 2010 to provide leadership within the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library on all services and activities that support the strategic direction of enhancing the student experience. The group is interested in finding new ways to engage students both academically and socially.

"When the International Centre for Students asked us to be a part of International Week we were eager to participate," says event organizer Heather Nicholson.

She adds that SET was particularly interested in finding an activity that would engage international students. Nicholson and SET co-chair Nicole Eva had read about PechaKucha and were looking for an opportunity to put it into practice.

PechaKucha, a term derived from the Japanese word for chit-chat, is a simple presentation format where 20 images are shown for 20 seconds each. The images forward automatically while a presenter speaks to them. The presentation style was developed by two architects in Tokyo in 2003 who wanted to provide a space and an opportunity for designers to share new ideas, but in a fast-paced and entertaining format. Since 2004, PechaKucha events have been spreading to other cities around the world. Currently there are regular PechaKucha nights running in more than 260 cities worldwide on an unlimited number of topics.

While PechaKucha is not well known around Lethbridge, all participants and attendees expressed enthusiasm about the event. One particularly moving presentation was given by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian Glenna Westwood, who spoke about her emotional voyage to Ghana in May 2010. Westwood and her father (retired U of L professor Bill Cook) made their first return journey to the West African country after spending five years there in the 1970s.

PechaKucha Night is trademarked and run by a global foundation. For more information about PechaKucha visit www.pecha-kucha.org

For a look at the March issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Golden effort for U of L iGEM team

trevor.kenney — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:14:31 +0000

A group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Chemistry/Biochemistry and Neuroscience students returned from a recent international genetically-engineered machines (iGEM) conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, MA as gold medalists and with a new appreciation for teamwork, inventiveness and taking chances.

The iGEM competition is regarded as the premier undergraduate synthetic biology competition in the World. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts – called 'BioBricks' – at the beginning of the summer from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at their own schools, they use these parts, along with new parts of their own design, to build biological systems. They then operate these systems in living cells.

The 8-person U of L team worked on harvesting solar energy by refining what was termed a 'bio-battery', focusing on a type of bacteria called a cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae) that has photosynthetic properties when exposed to sunlight.

"My iGEM experience, or my introduction to synthetic biology, began and ended with a bang," says team member Megan Torry.

"The competition was intriguing because it introduced me to a future that we cannot grasp. We have no idea of the vast number of possibilities of where the world will take us, and our future decisions regarding change. There does not seem to be an academic program that is as multi-disciplinary as iGEM. People from numerous backgrounds can come together and offer the team different perspectives and skills, further making it a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge goal to get more students involved."

The U of L iGEM team was one of the few composed mainly of
undergraduate students, and competed against more than 100 university teams to finish with a gold medal standing, one of 48 groups to achieve that mark.
They share their iGEM Gold Medal standing with such heavyweight universities as Stanford, Tokyo, Osaka, Johns Hopkins, Paris, and Cambridge, among others. They even outdid the incomparable Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) itself.

Team supervisor Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden says the team did a tremendous job of making their project not only work, but also be complete enough to have other teams take an interest in their research.

"The team constructed some functional biobricks by successfully using synthetic biology to engineer an organism. We also furthered knowledge within the synthetic biology community and helped other teams with their projects. This is a lot of work, which the students take on in their spare time."

Torry and the others didn't seem to mind the time commitment or the complexity of their project. As successful as the project ultimately was, changes and chances were the order of the day to make the project work.

"Throughout the summer our project was forced to change as our team took chances again and again, and consequently were wrong, again and again. It was good that we were all too stubborn to stop showing up. I realized that being a risk taker and taking chances will expand synthetic biology because it will lead to the development of new ideas. I would suggest that anyone interested should take a chance with iGEM," says Torry.

"I have a BSc in Neuroscience, but iGEM allowed me to come to a conclusion that there are numerous novel lab procedures to expand my personal skills.

"I had to learn all of these new lab procedures, and I had to ask a lot of questions, interact, present, travel, write and develop myself over the last eight months. I was successful on a personal level because I was able to expand my talents, discover talent within myself, and see it in those working around me."

The iGEM project has evolved to become a credit course, and there is now scholarship money available for travel. As well, the group developed a business plan to further take advantage of any ideas that come out of the iGEM process.

Bridging personal and scholarly discovery

trevor.kenney — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:05:57 +0000

In her thirst for spiritual knowledge, Lauren Boni has spent time at a remote Buddhist temple near Tokyo, worked for a non-governmental organization in Nepal and recently, is studying at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Boni majored in Buddhism and East Asian Religious Studies as an undergraduate at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto and spent several summers travelling overseas to get a sense of the religious experiences she was studying.

"I was very curious about different ways of life, different ways of being in the world," she explains.

These experiences solidified a fascination with spirituality's healing benefits.

"I realized that, although people had less in the way of material goods, they had a lot of intrinsic joy and well-being."

This is also confirmed by holistic health research, which links concrete factors like lower blood pressure with spiritual practices.

Now, Boni is at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, working towards a Master of Science (Health Sciences) under the supervision of Dr. Gary Nixon, director and coordinator of the U of L's Addictions Counselling Program. Boni's research will employ transpersonal psychology – which asserts that psychological health is improved by connecting with a greater spiritual whole – to look at the spiritual journeys of Canadians practising Sufism, a 1,400-year-old mystical tradition of Islam.

She explains that "all religions have a mystical orientation, which focuses on the internal experience of the practitioner, more so than a specific system of beliefs."

In the course of her qualitative research, Boni will interview Sufi practitioners in Toronto to capture their experience of "non-dual self-realization" – the process of integrating their consciousness with a higher consciousness.

Although in the early stages of her thesis research, Boni says Nixon has become a mentor.

"He's exposed me to so many new ideas in such a short period of time."

Nixon says supervising students isn't unlike counselling: it's about facilitating the growth process.

"A thesis project is like a journey; a person goes through a number of phases. So, I see it as a journey of self-discovery, as well."

UNews - Tokyo

Research project examines happiness and well-being in intentional communities

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Study tour gives students direct cultural experience

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Library looks to engage with students

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Golden effort for U of L iGEM team

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